SEARCH BY KEYWORD

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OVERVIEW

Students will become engaged learners through this unit that prepares students for studying ancient Greece with digital storytelling skills. First students develop a list of questions to research Greek gods, heroes, and creatures. Then with a partner, they choose the topic of their research and divide the questions between themselves. After conducting research, the partners write scripts for their digital story using the online tool PowToon.

FEATURED RESOURCES

FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

Labbo and Place state that for technology to be successfully integrated into the curriculum, the technology must be “a good fit,” which they describe as a situation in which “the learning connections are clear and the selected activities add to the motivation and opportunities for students to gain knowledge not typically encountered in textbooks. The fit is also good when students have occasions for gaining new literacy skills and strategies.” This project matches that description.

First, students see a connection between learning research skills typically taught in language arts classes to using the information they find in social studies classes. Secondly, the typical social studies textbooks do not go into depth about Greek gods, so the students are increasing their understanding of the topic. Additionally, students are learning new technology skills through the use of an online tool. Students are motivated to show what they have discovered in the research process, and this free software provides a platform for that to happen.